Fingerstyle

Fingerstyle means plucking the strings directly with the fingers (thumb and sometimes nails) instead of a pick. It allows playing several non-adjacent strings at once without skipping over strings in between — something a single pick held in the hand simply can't do.

Not just a tone choice, a real technical constraint

The real difference isn't only fingerstyle's rounder tone compared to a pick: each finger can play its own independent voice, making it possible to hold a steady bass line with the thumb while the other fingers play a separate melody — a move a pick, held as a single unit, simply cannot do.

Guitarshelf's arpeggio sheets, like arpeggios in C — getting started, lend themselves particularly well to fingerstyle playing, even though the catalog doesn't enforce it as the only option.